504W Independent Test with LED Grow Lights

[LEDGirl]

The total yield was between 1lbs 12 ounces and 1lbs 13 ounces if I remember correctly (1lbs, 7.5oz, + 2 more plants). She could have done a lot better, but she didn't have the tray filled, she cut a few plants early, and it was her first time getting used to the new lights.

I honestly don't have a clue when it comes to yield differences between soil and hydro. Wish I could be more help at answering that question, but the only thing I have in soil is a cactus...

 

[freeride high]

any smoke report on that? its obvious that the led can grow some heathy buds, but how does the herb quality compare?
very nice example thanks for posting!

 

[LEDGirl]

Here are some quality shots from my own garden.

 

[BENJI]

Nice LEDGirl impressive results, do they run much cooler than the equivelent HPS..?

 

[TDSS02]

Very nice, i might be calling you soon with a few questions, im interested in trying it.

 

[medmaker420]

deleted

 

[zenoonez]

Great pics, did the guest independent test ever come out? I know you had said there would be someone famous doing a test of these lights at one point... Any word on that?

 

[Harvest]

Looks like you need quite a few lighting units. whats the price on those units? life span? temps they run at? very cool stuff!

 

[DankSide]

I might want to use LED setups for supplemental lighting. Are there any led grow lights that are produced for vertical supplemental light right now? I imagine it would be an efficient alternative to T5's or CFLs.
Would be cool to find a vertical 360 degree LED setup to mix in with HID

 

[LEDGirl]

Our LED's operate at 105 degrees Fahrenheit. A 400W-1000W HID operates between 450-650 degrees F. The light coming from the LED's also contains far less heat (infra-red and radiant) than that coming from the HID, allowing your plants to be run much hotter than HID, without incurring the stress. I recently did a sample test on a group of 4 plants that were maintained at 90-98 degrees during the day cycle, and 80-90 degrees during the night cycle without CO2. The plants were within 9-12" of our 126W, and none of them showed any signs of heat stress. As most seasoned gardeners know, temperature affects a plants metabolic rate, and being able to run them hotter can often speed up the growth.


As far as the independent test goes, we sent 3, 318W units to Ed Rosenthal. I was advised that he is running identical 4' x 4' grow spaces with Green Crack clones in a hydro-sort of media. In one space he has our 954W of LED, and in the other he has a 1000W HPS. I will be calling him tomorrow to find out how the progress is coming along with our units. We also have 420 Magazine doing a test using 630W of our LED vs a 600W HPS.


The lifespan on our units is 6+ years for veg and 10+ years for bloom. Our LED's can operate for 50,000 hours (6 continuous years) and still retain 70% of their original output. Once you buy the unit, it's yours to use for years to come without ever changing a bulb or ballast, and without the need for loud ventilation systems. In most cases, you will also be able to eliminate the need for A/C.

 

[LEDGirl]

I might want to use LED setups for supplemental lighting. Are there any led grow lights that are produced for vertical supplemental light right now? I imagine it would be an efficient alternative to T5's or CFLs.
Would be cool to find a vertical 360 degree LED setup to mix in with HID

I am currently working on a 360 degree design for vertical and round gardens. Our LED's are designed for primary lighting, without the need for any supplemental lighting whatsoever. You can run them in combination with HID, but it's more efficient to replace the HID with more LED

The only way you could currently do a vertical grow with our units, is to have 1 facing each side of your garden (back to back). The units can be hung in literally any orientation, making them extremely versatile for any style of gardening.

 

[medmaker420]

deleted

 

[Herbasaurus]

They seem like they would be good if heat was a big problem and money was no object. I think the price will have to come down some to be cost effective.

 

[dongle69]

Our LED's can operate for 50,000 hours (6 continuous years) and still retain 70% of their original output.

How long do they retain 90% of their original output?

 

[LEDGirl]

Our LED's don't do anything funny/weird to growth, but some of our previous test models have (like the ones that used orange). The only thing negative that can happen to your plants with these units is bleaching. Some strains are more sensitive to it than others, but if the units are closer than 6" to your plants during weeks 3-5 in bloom (depending on strain) they can cause bleaching to the uppermost parts of your buds, literally turning them white. I've seen this happen with several other LED units on the market, so it seems to be a general pattern following this new technology.

If you were growing in a 4' x 4' cabinet in a SOG or Scrog style grow, I would recommend 4, 126W units. 2, 126W units would have a 4' x 3' coverage area, so using 4 will give you nice overlap and ensure even spread of intensity throughout your entire space.

If you look at the photos on page 1, we did a weight comparison of buds under HID to those under LED. The buds under LED averaged 40% more dense for their size, which has been standard in my own garden as well. You can expect denser yields using LED than you've ever seen before with HID or CFL, and more THC as well. My plants are more covered than I've ever seen before, and up until yesterday they hadn't had CO2 in over 5 weeks! The bud taste for me is a bit stronger and more flavorful than I remember with HID, and I've grown the same several strains for the past several years. I only switched my personal garden to LED about 3 months ago after our product was finally ready for production.

 

[zenoonez]

Our LED's operate at 105 degrees Fahrenheit. A 400W-1000W HID operates between 450-650 degrees F. The light coming from the LED's also contains far less heat (infra-red and radiant) than that coming from the HID, allowing your plants to be run much hotter than HID, without incurring the stress. I recently did a sample test on a group of 4 plants that were maintained at 90-98 degrees during the day cycle, and 80-90 degrees during the night cycle without CO2. The plants were within 9-12" of our 126W, and none of them showed any signs of heat stress. As most seasoned gardeners know, temperature affects a plants metabolic rate, and being able to run them hotter can often speed up the growth.


As far as the independent test goes, we sent 3, 318W units to Ed Rosenthal. I was advised that he is running identical 4' x 4' grow spaces with Green Crack clones in a hydro-sort of media. In one space he has our 954W of LED, and in the other he has a 1000W HPS. I will be calling him tomorrow to find out how the progress is coming along with our units. We also have 420 Magazine doing a test using 630W of our LED vs a 600W HPS.


The lifespan on our units is 6+ years for veg and 10+ years for bloom. Our LED's can operate for 50,000 hours (6 continuous years) and still retain 70% of their original output. Once you buy the unit, it's yours to use for years to come without ever changing a bulb or ballast, and without the need for loud ventilation systems. In most cases, you will also be able to eliminate the need for A/C.

Good to hear about the test, is Ed hosting a journal somewhere with regular updates or anything? Also, Im sorry if this is the wrong place to be asking this but do you foresee the manufacturing costs going down in the future as your business becomes larger providing a cost reduction? I mean I am all about leds but they are simply too expensive for me at this point. Regardless, I just wanted to say I am glad you decided to give icmag another go, I was disappointed when you left the first time. Good luck.

 

[LEDGirl]

They seem like they would be good if heat was a big problem and money was no object. I think the price will have to come down some to be cost effective.

In my case I switched out 4,000W of HID for 1512W of LED. With the HID's, I had a ventilation fan running constantly as well as an A/C unit.

Since switching to LED I've begun saving approximately $160 per month on my electric bill. My A/C unit stays off now that it's winter, and during the warm days of summer it only ran for 5-10 minutes per hour. Perhaps if my floor, walls, and ceiling weren't insulated I wouldn't need the A/C, but I like to keep my girls warm to keep the growth rate up. I also got rid of my loud ventilation system, and I no longer need to replace $700 in Hortilux bulbs every year. All in all, I will save more during my first year using LED, than the price difference between a LED and HID setup. I will also continue saving over $2,000 per year for the next 5 years that I use my lights over the cost of operating HID.

 

[LEDGirl]

Good to hear about the test, is Ed hosting a journal somewhere with regular updates or anything? Also, Im sorry if this is the wrong place to be asking this but do you foresee the manufacturing costs going down in the future as your business becomes larger providing a cost reduction? I mean I am all about leds but they are simply too expensive for me at this point. Regardless, I just wanted to say I am glad you decided to give icmag another go, I was disappointed when you left the first time. Good luck.

What can I say, I can't let one angry mod who doesn't want to answer for himself ruin it for everyone else. ICMag is a wonderful community with a ton of great growers, and I LOVED it here when I was allowed to post several months ago. I also think thought most all of the other moderators here were great, so I knew I had to get back on IC! Now that I'm here I'm finding out that the mods I never had a chance to meet before are even cooler people than I hoped they'd be. I think I found a long-lasting home here at IC.

Up until recently Ed was to be hosting his test on the Time4Hemp website and myself. We split ways with Time4Hemp, so they will no longer be hosting the test on their site (their loss!). To my knowledge Ed will be supplying me photographs of his grow, and he is documenting everything for his next book.

As far as the costs go, I don't see them dropping drastically any time soon. The prices on our site will actually be going up soon, as they were our introductory offer to get a bunch of people using them quickly. In order to support our advertising budget, website budget, and the adoption of new distributors (not to mention the units we supply to members for free or at a discount), our prices will have two more increases in increments of $25. The final price will be $449.95 and include a Grow-Yoyo light hanger system. I believe that once the world begins to see LED lighting technology as the replacement for HID, we will see prices begin to drop rather quickly. I plan on leading the movement from HID to LED throughout 2010, and I know that most of you will help with that in the upcoming months.

 

[zenoonez]

Okay, well I can't wait to see Ed's pics start coming in. Maybe when I get into a better position I will drop some cash on one of your lights and do myself a side by side test to see if it will work for me. Again, best of luck and I eagerly await Ed's full test grow.

 

[Irie_Lion]

So about how much longer before the price increase starts to kick in?